What is BooksAround?
A grand experiment. But that's the short version.
Q: So, who the heck are you?
Hi. We're BooksAround. We had an idea a few years back, kind of a spin-off on the old dollar bill experiment: if we sent out a few hundred interesting books to people around the country, and asked those people to read and pass those books along to friends, where would those books go?
So this year, we're going to put that very experiment into action. We're going to send out those books around the country. We're going to start mapping their journeys. And we're going to sit back and watch where they go.
Q: Alright, well, how does it work?
We bought some books. We sent them out to friends. And we asked those friends to do two things:
1. Go to our website and let us know where the book is.
2. Read the book.
When they finished the book, those friends sent it to a different friend. And that friend was asked to do the same thing -- register the book's new location on our site, and read it.
And it goes on like that. Get a book, let us know where it is, read it, and pass it along.
As these books get passed along, we'll be charting our books' current locations on our website so that we can see where they're traveling.
Q: Can you send me a book?
We're not sending out new copies of books every day. Or even every month. But we will be sending out more books on a quasi-regular basis. If you're interested in getting a copy of a BooksAround book, shoot us an email and we'll put you on the waiting list.
But if you really, really want a copy of a particular book, we recommend that you either:
A. Go to the "What Are We Reading?" page, click on a book and buy it via Amazon.com
or, B. Go to your local library. Everything we're reading is available there, too.
Q: Does BooksAround cover all shipping costs?
Actually, no. Sorry.
Here's what we suggest: the USPS offers a special rate for shipping books. It's called the 'media mail' rate. Almost all of the books on our list cost less than $3 to ship, as long as the book is being mailed to a U.S. address.
I mean, we are giving you a free book to read. We hope $3 to pass the joys of reading along isn't asking too much.
Q: What happens if the book I've gotten is in awful shape?
Send us an email. We'll tell you where to ship the book, and we'll send you a new and improved copy of the same book.
Q: Can I donate money to BooksAround? What about books?
We're in the process of registering as a 501(c)(3) non-profit, but in the meantime, we're not accepting donations. Seriously, stop trying to send us your money. We want it, but just not right this moment.
We are, however, registered through Amazon's affiliates program. If you go to the "What Are We Reading?" page and click on a link there, it'll take you to the Amazon.com page for the book. Buy it there, and BooksAround gets a small cut of the profits. We're reinvesting all of that money into new books.
Now, if you're in possession of interesting books that you think fit what we're doing, shoot us an email, and we'll let you know whether or not we're interested.
If you've got a copy of one of the books that's already on the site, we're definitely interested, as long as the book is in good condition. Remember: we're sending these books around the country. They need to be in decent shape.
Q: How do I get in touch with you guys?
Easy. Via the 'How Do I Get In Touch With the BooksAround Team?' link. It's right there on the left. We check our email often. If you've got a question, a request, a winning lotto ticket, or just want to say hi, that's how to get in touch with us.
Q: Wait, you guys have a team?
Well, not really. It's mostly just Dan Oshinsky. He's also the founder of a small news service, called Stry, and he blogs about non-book-related things over at his website. He really likes books.
Q: Some of the photos on this site are pretty cool. Where'd you find them?
The photos on this site were taken by two photographers: Liz West and Horia Varla. They're being used here via a Creative Commons license.